Antonio Conte is laying low beneath the flying barbs and criticism hoping the Chelsea hierarchy will deliver in January

Conte has escaped criticism others have received in the wake of Manchester City’s surge to the title

Antonio Conte is looking to add numbers to his squad (Getty)

Antonio Conte wasn’t going to play that game, or evidently give his Chelsea side any excuses ahead of their own Saturday game against Stoke City.

The Italian had naturally been asked about the issue of the day – or, rather, the entire Christmas season. Did he agree with Jose Mourinho on Manchester City’s expenditure, and what did he think of Liverpool’s on Virgil van Dijk?

Initially evasive, Conte’s response then evolved, and there was the lingering sense that he wanted to say more.

“I don’t want to comment on what the other coaches think,” the Chelsea manager began, at first just giving the usual soundbites… but there was then a bit more.

“It’s important for us to work, to continue to work and try and improve, to work to improve the team and to become more competitive for this league and in the future for the Champions League. If we are good to have another qualification next season. Then I repeat, football is not simple. Not simple. A lot of people think that football is simple, but it’s not. The most important thing is to have a very clear idea where you are in the present, where you can stay in the future. But football is not simple.”

Conte didn’t quite elaborate on what he meant by those intriguing last few words, but it’s difficult not to think he was saying that football isn’t so simple a game that expenditure perfectly translates to success; that there is much more to it. That was after all the approach that won the league last season, and should be kept in mind as regards Conte’s work this season. He actually has barely been bought any of his primary targets over three windows – and in some cases didn’t get entire positions addressed in the way he needed – but still persevered; still just adjusted to what he had... and won the title.

He touched on this when Van Dijk’s £75m transfer from Southampton was brought up.

“It doesn’t change. For us, I repeat, it’s very important to look at ourselves and then try to find the right way to improve. On my hand, the way to improve this team is to work. On the other hand, there is the club and the transfer market. But I can only speak about my hand. I see now only one way to improve my team: to continue to work with this mentality, this desire, this will. Because I repeat I can tell I have fantastic players with me.”

It’s also probably one of a few reasons why Conte has escaped the criticism that others have in the wake of City’s surge to the title, beyond the justifiable breathing space that should come from having just won the title yourself. There is also a slight irony here, and a few different elements to this story.

Mourinho created the issue of the week by saying his club’s expenditure was “not enough” against City’s, in the immediate aftermath of the poor 2-2 draw at home to Burnley. Given the Portuguese’s usual media playbook, the natural suspicion is that he was saying all of that to deflect attention from a bad result, but the irony was that it just raised a bigger debate and worse criticism. Conte has by contrast generally kept his head down with such issues, and the perception has instead been that Chelsea are just getting their heads down and looking to improve too.

There are those other elements of course. Perhaps some of that is down to the specific difference in job description, that is part of a different era. Whereas Mourinho was definitively the Chelsea “manager” in the way that so many of his mid-2000 contemporaries were, for example, Conte is a “first-team head coach”.

That immediately creates a different level of responsibility as regards transfers, and is why the Italian can more fairly divert all questions on the issue – or, as on Friday, on Eden Hazard or Thibaut Courtois – by directing people to the board. They make the decisions. His attitude is very different to Mourinho and, say, Rafa Benitez in that aspect.

“In my opinion, I think it’s right to have this type of conversation with the club in the right moment, to give my opinion and my idea” Conte said on Friday. “The only thing I can tell you is that I’m very happy to work with these players. I’m very happy with the mentality we created in these 18 months. I’m very happy with the commitment and behaviour of my players. This is great for me. I’m proud to have this type of player, with this commitment. Then, I repeat, the club is right then to take the best decision if they see that we can improve with some [new] players. But I’m the coach. I am here to work on the pitch with the players the club give me.”

He has of course given suggestions to the club, and does want new players – at least two or three. They are a forward that can play across a few positions in the mould of Dries Mertens but maybe more likely Yannick Carrasco, a wide player and maybe another midfielder. Whether the club entirely see it as he does is another issue, especially given he would like more experience, but Chelsea’s broad policy has been to go for players in their early twenties.

On that note, this is not to say Conte never brings up transfers, or that he won’t play the media games. He clearly will when it suits him, or when he wants to deliver a specific barb, and repeatedly brought up signings when the summer window was open.

It’s just all that immediately stopped once the window closed. He realised he was better served by getting his players 100% focused on what could actually be managed in that time. It is the same story this weekend.